INZ denies counter SM scrutiny of Visa applicants

Regular social media scrutiny of visa applicants will not be done by New Zealand clarified Immigration New Zealand. INZ ruled out that it will follow the US idea of scrutinizing social media accounts of visa applicants. Stephanie Greathead the INZ Area Manager said that the agency will not adopt a counter policy to scrutinize visa applications of US nationals.

Nationals of New Zealand intending to work in the US might soon be scrutinized for their social media accounts. The Department of State in the US has proposed a rule that will mandate all non-immigrant and immigrant visa applicants to offer details of all their social media accounts for last 5 years.

The DOS proposal is on lines of the assurance given by Trump during his Presidential campaign to strictly scrutinize the overseas nationals arriving at the US. It will be decided by the Office of Budget and Management whether to reject or accept the proposal in 2 months, as quoted by the Stuff Co NZ.

All nationals of New Zealand applying for a US Green Card, non-immigrant work visa, tourist visa or business visa will be subject to stringent social media scrutiny. This is if the DOS proposal is accepted. But those arriving at the US for leisure or business for 3 months will be not subject to the scrutiny. It is because New Zealand and the US share a Visa waiver program.

Journalists of New Zealand are not covered under the program for visa waiver. Thus they will be required to apply for a Media Non-immigrant Work Visa irrespective of the period of stay in the US.

36 nations apart from New Zealand have visa waiver agreement with the US. This includes the UK, Japan, and Australia. Rest of the nations in the world including Mexico, India, and China are not exempted.

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